Stoke top value at 18-5 to shatter City’s cup dream

SPORT/SHOWBIZ BETTING: AFTER securing a place in next year’s Champions League, Manchester City will bid to put the icing on the cake by winning the FA Cup at Wembley on Saturday.

An uncompromising Stoke City side provide the opposition and if this were a game to be decided by class alone, City would walk it.

Roberto Mancini can field a side full of stars, while opposite number Tony Pulis has had to assemble a line-up with budget signings.

But money and reputation will count for nothing come kick-off time and I reckon Stoke will, at the very least, give City a huge fright.

City go into the final on the back of two hard Premier League matches against Everton and Spurs.

Stoke, on the other hand, had it relatively easy last weekend against an Arsenal side who looked as though they had already booked their lie-lows by the side of the swimming pool.

The Potters will be physical and relentless, but at least City are a big and powerful side whose players will be able to cope with the questions they will be posed.

Quite rightly, City are favourites. But 2-5 to win the trophy (Stoke 2-1) looks pretty mean to me and, on balance, I believe the 18-5 about Stoke winning in 90 minutes is much the best value to be had.

If you want to back City in 90 minutes, you can get 10-11, while the draw is 13-5.


LEE Westwood and Rory McIlroy, numbers one and six in the world, have decided to give this weekend’s TPC at Sawgrass a miss, preferring to concentrate their energies on the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in a fortnight’s time.
That’s a shame for the self-proclaimed “fifth Major”, but a stellar field will turn out at the Florida course, which boasts the par-three island-green 17th, the scene of numerous bloodbaths for the world’s greatest players.

This is a great tournament which demands straight hitting, solid putting and plenty of discipline.

Those qualities could sum up England’s Luke Donald who is vying for favouritism with Tiger Woods (15-1) and Phil Mickelson (16-1).

Donald looks a solid bet at 17-1, while an interesting back-up is Germany’s Martin Kaymer, the reigning US PGA champion who can be supported at 40s.


TALKING of Germany, that nation will be hosting the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night.
Dusseldorf is the venue and last year’s winner, Lena (18-1), will be defending her title for the hosts with her latest offering, “Taken By A Stranger”.

The controversial Dana International, winner in 1998, tries again for Israel with “Ding Dong”, while boy band Blue represent the UK with “I Can”. Respective odds of 300-1 and 9-1 sum up their chances.

There has been money for Azerbaijan (10-1) and Finland (16-1) this week, but the most overwhelming support has come for France (7-4), whose offering is “Sognu”, sung in the Corsican language by operatic tenor Amaury Vassilli.

No bet for me in this one, although I would advise you to steer clear of the UK song given voting patterns of the last decade or so.


RECOMMENDATIONS: Stoke City to win FA Cup final in 90 minutes, 18-5 totesport, VC Bet; Luke Donald, e.w. TPC, 17-1 (Blue Square), Martin Kaymer, e.w., 40-1 (Sporting Bet, Paddy Power).